Imiko (The Cursed Child)
by Ryanne7
Summary: The awakening of Katsuo's demon powers left half of his school in ashes while He drowns himself in guilt. In a desperate attempt to pull her son out from his bottomless pit of self-blame, Yukina seeks the help of her brother, Hiei, who she thinks is the only person who can save Katsuo. Hiei, on the other hand, is forced to explore a long suppress haunting. Family.
1. Chapter 1

It was like any regular day by the border of Demon World for Hiei, rescuing wayward humans who had mistakenly tripped into the Demon realm and erasing their memories before returning them to their rightful place on the other side of the border.

Before it was no longer any regular day.

There she was in average human civilian clothing, timidly taking her first few steps pass the border into the demon realm. He had always preferred her in her Kimono, it just gave him that extra sense of familiarity, but he'd preferred her in whatever form of clothing the human world creates anyways. Just as long as her heart remains as gentle as it always been, and her eyes the same crimson his, she would always remain his secret sister.

"What do you think you're doing here?" he called before placing himself right in front of the ice maiden. She gasp in surprise at his abrupt appearance but quickly recollected herself and immediately caught hold of his arm.

"I need your help."

* * *

"No."

"Please Hiei, there's no one else." she explained,

"Can't that moron train his own son to control his powers?"

"He can, but Kazuma knows nothing about demon flames."

"Demon flames?" asked Hiei, now this caught his attention. "What do you mean Demon flames? The kid is half human." he continued

"Katsuo is also half demon." said Yukina "And now we know he's part fire demon too." she continued, tugging harder at Hiei's arm. "That's exactly why you have to help us!"

He glanced down at his sisters trembling hands, _"she must be really desperate."_ he thought. But still, he couldn't allow himself to get any more involve with this...family.

He had his share of gatherings with his old camaraderie, grudgingly showing up at weddings, unnecessary house warming (he could show them a thing or two about a house 'burning' though) and not to mentioned those irritating Birthdays Kurama insist he be present. It came to everybody's surprise as both Keiko and Yukina discovered to be 'expecting' at the very same time. Thus, the shared birthday of their children gave them another reason to gather and catch up. But, after a few years of all these human nonsense, Hiei had enough and insisted on being excluded from any and every family occasions. It annoyed him mostly, but partially, it's because he just doesn't belong.

"Go back to your family." he said, roughly drawing his hand away from her grip. But his act of defiance only came back to him as a huge slap on the cheek. He witness painfully as her legs gave way and collapsed and how those priceless stones formed as tears began to stream down her face.

She sobbed, and he stood there. What was he standing there? This is his chance to leave and not allow himself to get involve. Instead, he waited. His blood boiled at how he had made her cry. Something he had vowed before, to never let happen.

She caught hold of his hand this time and looked up to face him, tear stones forming like a factory. "This is your family." she said, "And we need you." she continued. Hiei, at a loss, remained there holding tight to the hand of the sister he wants to protect both from himself and the world. But she kept prying, digging into a side of him that he'd rather not entertain. That deep dark part of himself that longed for the family he never had.

* * *

A/N: Just a mild appetizer to wet both our appetites on the story ahead! Till we meet again! Rgs, Ryanne7


	2. Chapter 2

_Several years ago…_

There she was in the hospital bed, sleeping soundly right by the cradle holding her newborn. He approached her, masking his energy while taking the liberty to just take in the sight of her. He never intended to reveal his identity to her. He sincerely wanted to spare her the knowledge of having a brother who was an ex-convict, murderer and everything she should stay a way from. But the world has its ways of going against him. Through the years, he noticed how happy the buffoon made her, and the love that eventually took root in both of their hearts. He noticed how she could no longer live without him, as much as she couldn't bear not finding her brother. And when news came to him that she had rejected the fool's hand in marriage due merely to the absence of her brother, Hiei reluctantly rushed to her side and came clean. Despite how he was going against his instincts to spare her this fact, he couldn't have her sacrifice her happiness because of him. Hiei eased and his face relaxed, pushing a stray hair behind her ear, he couldn't hide this pride of his sister that was stirring within him. It was one for an ice maiden to leave the land of the Koorime, but it was another for one to choose to reside in the human world, wed a former spirit detective and start a family. She knows the risk she's taking, and she's convinced to love and protect her family anyhow. Hiei, could never fully comprehend this love she had for the buffoon, but he knew one thing for sure. He will protect her.

"Hiei?" he heard a whisper. He turned and there emerged the blue haired ferry-girl from the attached washroom, her hair in a messy bun by the nape of her neck, dressed in yellow pajamas. "What are you doing here this late?" she continued, how could he had not sensed her presence before? Perhaps he was too caught up in his thoughts and the extra effort he put into masking himself to go unnoticed to the ordinary. The ferry girl, she was suppose to be ordinary. He watched as her sleepy eyes went from him to his sister to losing all trace of sleep and began bouncing in excitement and spoke once more coming to her own conclusions.

"You came to see Yukina and the babies!" she exclaimed, in controlled volume fortunately. Her assumptions were half true, he came to see Yukina, but he had no intentions of touching her children. Wait. Children? She had more than one child?

"What do you mean _babies_?" he asked, his face neutral as he tried to mask the confusion and budding worry. "You mean you didn't know?" she asked and made her way past him towards the cradle next to the bed. She smiled and signaled for him to follow suit. He went, cautious and curious at the same time, clearly unsure of what to expect from this first meeting. He froze at the sight of the newborns. He should have known that there was another child. Koorime reproduced every one hundred years. When he first heard of Yukin's pregnancy, he just assumed it was that centurion event finally coming to pass. But he should have known that the oaf had everything to do with this. Now there was another cursed child in existence. One besides himself.

"Do you want to hold them?" Asked the ferry-girl. But when he paid her no response she poked further. "C'mon, you know you want to." He returned her statement with a glare warning her to let the effort drop. After paying the pair of twins one final glance before advancing towards the door.

"Hiei," He recognised that voice. "You're leaving?" He turned and there was his sister pulling herself into an upright.

"Go back to sleep." He said, "I should have known that ferry-girl's whispers were enough to wake anyone." he added and Botan's faced reddened at the tease as she frustratingly stomped towards him.

"There you go again as usual! Ridiculing me when all I'm doing is helping Yukina!" She shouted, like at full volume, rupturing the silence Hiei was already missing.

"Hmph," he grunted, "and exactly how are you helping?" he continued, crossing his arms by his chest.

"By being here of course!" she exclaimed, "I was the only one ready and available to accompany Yukina overnight. Hospitals can be scary at night. Who knows who or what could just jump out of the darkness and attack dear Yukina. Thus, with Botan here to protect them, Yukina and the kids can sleep without worry! " she went on, gesturing her thumb to herself with a proud smile on her face.

Yukina smiled in amusements, while Hiei rolled his eyes in mild self pity. How did the quiet evening dissipate so quickly? Why couldn't he had leave sooner, before she came about.

"I'm sure even the oaf could do a better than you in fending off unsuspecting attacks." he answered but only to have the bluette's poking annoyingly at his arm.

"Because men like him and yourself are prohibited in the maternity ward this late at night, dear Hiei!" she shouted, triggering a small ringing in his ears. He caught hold of her hand to halt the insufferable poking and glared.

"If you value your hand and that tongue of yours, I suggest you stop whatever it is you're doing." he said curtly. Botan's excitement faltered slightly at his words initially, but she returned it with a glare of her own, unwilling to admit defeat. But her comeback was quickly interrupted by the wails of one of the infants.

They both turned in sync at the cries, the ferry-girl snapping out of the abrupt confusion first, quickly rushed to the cradle. Transferring one crying child into Yukina's arms before taking the other into her own. Hiei could only watch as the two expertly coed the twins back to sleep.

"Hiei," Yukina called, "it's about time we introduce to you your new niece and nephew." she continued, smiling at his direction.

* * *

 _Recently…_

 _This cant be happening. This can't be real._ Katsuo repeated to himself as he recalled what happened less than a day ago.

It was a regular day at school, until he heard a scream that sent a chill down his spine. He recognized it from the core of his soul. It was his sister's. He remembered storming out of the classroom, his feet following the directions of his heightened spiritual awareness, down the hall, right up to the base of a flight of stares. He halted in his steps, feeling the blood drain from his face as he discovered the limp body of his sister sprawled before him. He couldn't breathe. _This can't be happening._ He repeated, as he willed himself to kneel and reach for his sister's hand but regretted it the moment he did so. It was so cold. And it felt as if her temperature only continued to drop at his touch as he held back this dark, almost burning sensation from the pit of his stomach. _This can't be real._ He told himself once more as he desperately searched for a pulse but to no avail.

"Kasumi!" he roared, appeasing that sensation within him as he released a surge of energy so foreign to him which shattered and destroyed anything and everything that couldn't take the pressure. His recalled seeing pulses of red, black and blue before seeing his the world around him lit up in flames.

He stayed there on his knees staring at his unresponsive sister, trying to wrap his head around what just happened. Was this his doing? Did he create these flames?

"Katsuo!" called a familiar voice. He lifted his head and turned to discover two very familiar figures. It was Sora Urameshi, daughter of the greatest Spirit Detective alive and his Uncle Kurama or Mr Minamino to the students in his school.

"Stay back!" he shouted over the crackling fire. But Katsuo's plea only motivated an accelerated charge from the concerned Sora. He did this, it was his fault for failing to protect Kasumi and somehow he started this fire that was slowly burning the school to the ground. He can't allow himself to hurt anyone else.

"I said stay back!" he shouted in desperation. And just as he'd thought, he was living a nightmare as he watched as Sora was thrown back against the wall by his sudden surge of energy. He stared in shock as his Uncle Kurama detoured from his original route towards him, to aid the now unconscious Sora.

"Katsuo," Kurama called as he scooped Sora into his arms. "We need to get Kasumi and Sora out of here." he articulated clearly, his eyes and voice unwavering but not without a hint of concern. Katsuo's eyes alternated between his sister and his injured friend. It's his fault, it's all his fault. But he can't allow the situation to get any worse. Gathering whatever that's left of his will, he carefully maneuvered his sister onto his back, stood up and nodded for Kurama to lead the way. Kurama nodded in returned, then proceeded to climb and jump out of the closest broken window. Katsuo followed suit, realizing that as he was jumping out of danger, he was saying goodbye to the world he used to know.

 _What's going on?_


End file.
